For reasons that boil down to my own naïveté and exposure to imperialist propaganda (better known as the American education system), I grew up assuming that entities like the United Nations and its member countries were infallibly dedicated to the welfare of human beings. That line of thought has since been killed, which makes Warehoused […]
I Am Not Your Negro
I Am Not Your Negro, a movie which cannot spell out its own true name, sanitizes itself for the sake of the MPAA and declares itself at once a film catered to a certain audience. And yet that is perhaps where the film’s greatest strength lies. Director Raoul Peck makes an impassioned plea through the […]
London Film Festival 2016: The Ghoul
You’ve may not have realised it, but you’ve probably seen Gareth Tunley plenty of times on television. He’s appeared in everything from Hustle and The Thick of It to Peep Show (memorably as “more cor anglais” Gog) in the last decade. It turns out Tunley, perpetually stuck in bit parts, has now moved behind the camera and made a curiously intense psychological […]
London Film Festival 2016: The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Like Ronseal, The Autopsy of Jane Doe does exactly what it says on the tin. Writers Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing have done their research and come back with a horror film based on the meticulous process of sleuthing through a cadaver. Of course there’s more to the film than a mere autopsy — just […]
London Film Festival 2016: Brimstone
One of cinema’s greatest characters, let alone villains, is Robert Mitchum’s insidious preacher Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter. With ‘love’ and ‘hate’ emblazoned on his knuckles, Powell stalks the Southern Gothic landscape with sinister desires and an ominous aura of dread. Mitchum’s performance is one not easily forgotten or trumped. That was until […]
The Neon Demon
The Neon Demon kills Jesse (Elle Fanning) before the movie begins. I can’t think of a film that dared to off its protagonist in the opening shot. No, this isn’t a spoiler, and anyway, The Neon Demon isn’t the kind of film you can spoil like that. It’s a psychosexual thriller in the vein of Satoshi Kon’s […]
Spotlight
Spotlight might be the ugliest film of 2015. It’s so wrapped up in its own aesthetic of reality—washed out faces that blend in with pale, drab wallpaper, garish orange furniture clashing with a painfully ordinary office—that you might cry foul that it’s meant for the big screen at all. Yet Tom McCarthy, the visionary director behind […]
London Film Festival 2015: Green Room
Punk Music has always had an uneasy relationship with violence, but for all the bravado, safety pins and rioting it’s never been explicitly tied to outright murder. That was until ultra-violent thriller Green Room hit theaters. Following on from his widely praised debut, Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier cranks the drama up to eleven and produces an exhilarating, albeit […]
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
I paid attention to the little things in The Force Awakens. Some of these were visual — the small creature with eyes set apart like a hammerhead shark poking its head out of the sand, the vulturous creature picking at the remains of a ship as if it were a carcass. Others were musical, like […]
Experimenter
If we define postmodernism as art which questions and critiques established formal rules, Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter might accurately be described as post-postmodern. It deconstructs the impulse towards deconstruction; instead, Almereyda asks his audience why they consider some rules worthy of clinging to and not others. The obedience experiments of Stanley Milgram may be the subject, but […]
The Good Dinosaur
While I prefer to judge a film on its own merit, nothing exists in a vacuum. An artist’s work is always weighed against their past efforts or, in the case of Pixar, against the reputation of the studio. And indeed, no review of The Good Dinosaur will print without comparing it to Inside Out. Nor […]
London Film Festival 2015: Observance
Alfred Hitchcock, the master of the thriller film, once commented on the idea of voyeurism in a conversation with Francois Truffaut. He said, “I’ll bet you that nine out of ten people, if they see a woman across the courtyard undressing for bed, or even a man puttering around in his room… They could pull down […]
London Film Festival 2015: Anomalisa
Standing in the queue for the London Film Festival’s mysterious secret screening, all the talk was unsurprisingly concerned with what lay ahead on the mammoth screen at the Odeon in Leicester Square. Packed together like cattle, there were murmurs of The Hateful Eight or, perhaps most widely suspected, The Danish Girl. But of course you can’t second guess the […]
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
In the opening scene of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), leading man and superspy for the Impossible Mission Force (IMF), jumps onto the wing of a jet and hangs on for dear life as it takes off. A shot of this, incidentally, is featured on one of the promotional posters for this movie. And what […]
Jurassic World
Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park was a cultural phenomenon. It remains an impressive movie that has captured the imagination of every child and adult, dinosaur-obsessed or not. While its sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, didn’t manage to captivate audiences like its predecessor did, it remained an entertaining dinosaur-themed diversion. (Jurassic Park III, on the other hand, does not exist.) So when Universal Studios […]
It Follows
It Follows taught me to fear everything onscreen. The film’s visual language elicits constant unease and feeds off our growing existential dread. The movie takes you in and traps you, leaving you addicted to its inescapable paranoia. The film opens with an unassuming shot of a suburban street in early autumn. Birds chirp and all seems […]
While We’re Young
We all have to grow up eventually. There’s a grim air to that statement—it smacks of morbid cliché—but the inevitability of aging is a powerful motivator. It forces us to confront the decisions we’ve made thus far and confront our self-imposed stagnation. I don’t know if writer/director Noah Baumbach is a cynic but, like me, he is […]
Timbuktu
When Abderrahmane Sissako‘s Timbuktu hit screens around France, it had a modest start at French box office. But after winning Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the François Chalais Prize at Cannes last year, a remarkable seven Césars including Best Movie and Best Director and a nomination for Best Foreign Picture at this year’s Oscars (though it ultimately lost to Ida), the movie is now enjoying renewed popularity […]
Big Hero 6
Film has the capacity to inspire us. It can make us feel sentimental, happy and sad. The greatest power a movie has is the ability to reach out and touch an audience’s heart. Big Hero 6, directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, achieves this and more. This Disney animated movie (made in conjunction with Marvel Studios) tells […]
Kingsman: The Secret Service
It’s dinner time. Villain Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), flaunting his disarming lisp, confesses his love of good old-fashioned spy movies to debonair secret agent Henry Hart (Colin Firth). At the same time, he somewhat paradoxically reassures Hart that this isn’t one of them, coming within inches of breaking the fourth wall. This odd contradiction wonderfully summarises the action packed, […]
A Most Violent Year
We hear breath over a black screen. A runner pants heavily before the camera reveals him jogging around New York City on a winter morning. He’s fit and keeps a strong, even pace. He wears a determined expression. The sound of his breath fades beneath the soulful piano stabs of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues.” […]
Selma
Selma begins with intimacy and tension. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prepares to deliver a speech in acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s nervous and complains something is not right with his ascot. His wife, Coretta Scott King, reassures him that all is well, and the two proceed to the ceremony. The new Nobel […]
The Babadook
The Babadook is out to get Amelia (Essie Davis) and her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman). Yet for the first third of the film, there’s not the slightest hint of a monster. A rhythm is established, and the film’s language is as well; cross-cutting means something bad is about to happen, for instance. But just as I […]
Dear White People
I have a paradoxical love for Dear White People. On one hand, I wish writer/director Justin Simien had tackled such serious subject matter further along in his carer. On the other, I wonder if a more established director would have taken so many risks. A world post-Spike Lee – a man more concerned with strangely esoteric commentary and Korean […]
Interstellar with Nate and Søren
Nate’s Review Interstellar surprised me. I walked into the theater expecting to see a bombastic space exploration flick. I did not expect the film to bring me to tears, but it did. The plot is centered on the final frontier, but Christopher Nolan’s latest is more than that. There’s a soul beneath the science-fiction spectacle. […]
Whiplash
I made it to the theater just in time. As the clerk handed me my ticket, she said, “There may only be two or three seats towards the front.” So I sat down in the front row, made myself comfortable and uncapped my pen. If you see the film anytime soon, count on finding me in the […]
Nightcrawler
What’s the dream footage to lead local morning news? A screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut, of course. That’s according to unscrupulous news director Nina Romina (Rene Russo). Her world is controlled by ratings which are in turn driven by suburban fear mongering and perverse images of death and violence. Nightcrawler takes us […]
Begin Again
Begin Again was once called Can a Song Save Your Life? Most audiences will probably figure out the film’s answer to that question in short order. Writer/director John Carney’s latest proves again that music, like good food, is irresistible onscreen. The film is simple and earnest. It flows with the even pace of a relaxing summer song. Carney opens his film […]
Mommy
Xavier Dolan is a 25-year-old writer and director from Canada. He’s already produced of five movies and won 36 awards in festivals ranging from Toronto to Cannes. The phenomenal young filmmaker is back this year with Mommy. The film won the Jury Prize at the last Cannes Film Festival and was recently selected to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film category for Canada […]
Kill the Messenger
Curiosity killed the cat, and all of the good journalists along with it. I was just a kid when Gary Webb broke news on the Contra-cocaine scandal. I don’t remember it. My recollection of the 90s reeks of the Clinton fiasco and not much else. As we learn in the epilogue of Kill the Messenger, the government fully […]
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them
Heartache has never looked so beautiful. Ned Benson makes his filmmaking debut with an audacious splash, releasing The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby as not one film, but three. The writer-director debuted two other versions of the movie, subtitled Him and Her (told from the male and female protagonist’s perspectives, respectively), at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. The Weinstein Company […]
The Riot Club
“I’m sick to death of poor people!” the repugnant Alistair Ryle (Sam Claflin) roars to his comrades atop the opulent dinner table, sloshing his wine carelessly out of its vessel in the process. This loaded, incendiary harangue epitomises the deplorable attitude of The Riot Club. The film’s vulgar band of toffs are some of the most […]
Samba
As America has the Coen brothers, France has Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. While they found national success in the early 2000s (Those Happy Days, So Close), it was in 2011 that they became internationally renowned for their last movie, The Intouchables. They’re now easily the most famous and successful writer/director duo in France. In fact, The Intouchables is recognized as the […]
Pride
There’s a wonderfully poignant scene in Pride where Imelda Staunton’s character, Hefina, sits with one of the elder statesmen of their small mining village buttering sandwiches. As they go about this mundane task facing the static, Ozu-esque camera, discussing their new found solidarity with gay pride, the man makes the bold admission he himself is […]
Night Moves
For a film so thematically focused on aftermath and consequence, Night Moves spends a lot of time on build-up. The meat of the movie doesn’t appear until about an hour in, well after the eco-terrorists played by Jesse Eisenberg (Josh), Dakota Fanning (Dena) and Peter Sarsgaard (Harmon) execute their violent plan. The going is slow but […]
Bashir’s Vision
It’s tough to think of a better documentary topic than “the Blind Boxer.” I’m not overly familiar with the sport, but I imagine it has to be something of a novel concept even to the most diehard fans. However, by the last scene in Bashir’s Vision, I began to wonder if the topic is a bit too rich – so much […]
The Drop
The thing about liquid is that it always takes the form of its container. Thin, round, tall, squat – it doesn’t matter. The same could be said of Hardy. In Locke, he affects a peculiar, nasally UK accent and gruff persona. As a spy in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, he is a sharp, twitchy stud whose emotions rule his behavior. […]
Frank
The room is dim. Four musicians tinker with their instruments as a fifth, the front man, walks onstage. A slight but noticeable crescendo accompanies his entrance. He is tall with a strong build. A large paper mache head rests on his broad shoulders, covering his face and giving him a nondescript expression. This is Frank. Frank feels for […]
The Guest
With the door firmly closed behind him, the darkly sinister stranger has locked out any hope of escape with a stern push of the handle. Our female protagonist sits silently, frozen with fear at the thought of her imminent fate. The shady figure ahead lowers to her level and reassures the trembling girl that he’s a normal […]
Manakamana
Manakamana is one of the most important films of 2014: not for greater culture or the world at large, but for cinema. Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez’s documentary about passengers taking a cable car to a Nepalese temple is one of the most unusual films I’ve ever seen. These filmmakers show an innate understanding of the power of […]
Snowpiercer
Snowpiercer is a bullet train. The film, like its titular locomotive, races along at breakneck speed. It blitzes through its two hours and bursts through the earthly obstacles in its path. Joon-ho Bong packs a striking brutality into his English-language debut. The result is a unique and darkly compelling piece of speculative filmmaking. Crackling radio clips introduce […]
A Most Wanted Man
Murky water sloshes quietly against a stone wall. The scene is peaceful with nothing but the quite ebb and flow of the river to break the silence. Suddenly, a disturbance: the water starts to rise and fall, angrily smashing against the stones. But no matter how hard it pushes, the wall stands unmoved. The opening shot of A Most […]
Calvary
Everything is a portrait in Calvary. Each shot feels designed to stand on its own. Cinematographer Larry Smith often fills his frames with the thoughtful faces of characters staring at something just out of view. At first glance, their countenances seem mysteriously unadulterated. But these shots take on new meaning in context. As we learn about their […]
Guardians of the Galaxy
For the first few moments of Guardians of the Galaxy, I worried. I saw elements of tropes rearing their head instantly. I sighed at a roguish hero whose existence screamed traits of other classic movie characters. I cringed at a villain whose antics veered well into the theatrical. I gaped as names of planets, new alien […]
Under the Skin
It is a warm Friday afternoon in late April. I am sitting in a coffee shop having a conversation with an excellent teacher. He tells me to see a film called Under the Skin that’s just opened at the local Cinemark. I add it to the top of my ever-lengthening mental list, and on the following Wednesday, […]
Obvious Child
I tried stand-up comedy once. I wasn’t very good at it. But as any successful comic will tell you, this is how everyone’s first, second, and hundredth attempts at stand-up go. Some have even gone so far as to call stand-up one of the world’s hardest professions. Still, the whole process terrified me. After that first […]
The Rover
Eric is a bearded powder keg. He is more force than character, his short fuse adding tension to every encounter. Will his shouting end in an explosion of violence, or will he just walk away? We are never sure. A scowling road warrior takes off in a bloody quest to reclaim what’s his. We’ve seen this before; Mad Max […]
The Double
Find a mirror, look at your reflection, and remind yourself that you exist. Now, imagine a world that shut you out so completely it made you question that basic fact. This is where writer-director Richard Ayoade takes you in The Double. The film is an utterly surreal marvel, a comedy so dark it’s equal parts […]
Locke
There’s a contention among certain writers that leaving characters by themselves is detrimental to a story. Writer-director Steven Knight’s latest subverts that alleged rule beautifully. Less a character study and more a multivalent character revelation, Locke is a tremendous, inspiring narrative feat. Tom Hardy plays Ivan Locke, a construction supervisor who gets into his BMW late […]
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Time is unstoppable. That much is clear in Marc Webb’s second outing with everyone’s favorite wall-crawler. The director opens this film with a close up on the gears of a watch, focusing on time slipping second by second. His use of foreshadowing is blatant, especially if you know a thing or two about a certain […]
